AfDB approves urban development strategy for African cities

In April 2011, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group launched its new Urban Development Strategy. The Strategy is anchored on three pillars: infrastructure delivery, governance and private sector development.

The infrastructure development pillar emphasises delivery and expansion of basic infrastructure services, which includes water supply, sanitation, drainage and solid waste management services, and building capacity for maintenance of public infrastructure assets.

The Bank Group has since the 1960s allocated some 15-20% of its total cumulative operations financing directly or indirectly to urban development.

Most of the Bank‘s support for water supply and sanitation projects in major cities is currently in the form of traditional project loans or grants (in eligible countries). The Bank will continue to use all its private sector instruments (loans, guarantees and equity) to support private investments in water supply, sanitation and other urban services.

In water and sanitation schemes, where the ability to pay might be too low to ensure that a purely private scheme is financially viable, the Bank will explore the use of modified build-own-transfer (BOT) models. The Bank can help provide concessional financing to a water/wastewater treatment project and use its guarantee instrument to facilitate the mobilisation of commercial debt.

The AfDB’s target for 2010-2015 is to spend one-half of water and sanitation lending for urban systems.

Read the full strategy document:
The Bank Groups’s urban development strategy : transforming Africa’s cities and towns into engines of economic growth and social development. 22 p.

Source: AfDB, 29 Apr 2011

Zimbabwe and AfDB sign US$30 million agreement to improve water supply and sanitation

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Zimbabwean government have signed a US $30 million grant agreement in support of the urgent water supply and sanitation rehabilitation project (UWSSRP) in the country. The UWSSRP is financed from the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund (the Zim-Fund).

The agreement was signed on Friday June 10, 2011 in Lisbon, Portugal, by Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Tendai Biti and the AfDB’s Vice President for Operations, Aloysius Ordu.

Once implemented, the project will improve the state of the water and sanitation infrastructure in Harare, Masvingo, Mutare, Chegutu, Kwekwe and Chitungwiza, and benefit over 4.15 million people living in these cities.

The Zim-Fund was established in May 2010 and formally launched in Zimbabwe by the AfDB’s President, Donald Kaberuka, in March 2011. Contributors to the Zim-Fund include Australia, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the AfDB.

For more information see:
Urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project : project appraisal report, AfDB, Oct 2010. Download report

Related web site: AfDB – Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund

Source: AfDB, 10 Jun 2011

Zimbabwe: Urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide US$ 29.65 million to support urgent rehabilitation works – restoration and stabilization of water supply and sanitation services in the Municipalities of Harare, Chitungwiza, Mutare, Chegutu, Masvingo and Kwekwe. The Urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project is one of two projects that have been identified for financing from the new Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Zim-Fund). AfDB launched the Zim-Fund on 7 March 2011, as a successor to the Zimbabwe Programmatic Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Zim-MDTF).

The Urgent Water Supply and Sanitation Rehabilitation Project targets a total population of approximately 4.15 million people. The envisaged outcomes include: increased reliability, quality and availability of water supply in the project areas; restored wastewater treatment capacity; and reduced incidence of cholera and other water related diseases.

Donors’ commitments to the Zim-Fund currently stand at an equivalent of US$ 68.8 million. Donors so far include Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, UK (DfID) and Germany (KfW).

Source: AfDB – Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund

Gambia: water supply, sanitation report validated

The Department of Water Resources, with funding from the African Development Bank (ADB) has prepared an assessment report on water supply and sanitation sectors of The Gambia. It identied successes and challenges in delivering sanitation and water supply services. The report is part of a continent-wide assessment requested by the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW).

At a validation workshop on the report, the Minister of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, Lamin Kabba Bajo, disclosed that The Gambia is on track in meeting the MDGs target for water supply, with 85% to 95% urban coverage and 81% rural coverage, based on data from 2006. Despite the achievements in the country’s water and sanitation sectors, Minister Bajo said the sub-sectors continue to be faced with a number of challenges that would require the formulation of [a new] strategy and the establishment of a coordination mechanism.

Collins Annoh, a representative of African Development Bank (ADB), told the gathering that since the 1980s, the bank has provided finance amounting to about 37 million Euros to The Gambia to support development and improvements in the water and sanitation sectors. “The Gambia Country Status Overview (CSO), for which this meeting is being organised seeks to capture among other things, current data on recent sector developments and efforts towards achieving national or MDG targets by 2015,” he said.

Source: Amadou Jallow, Daily Observer / allAfrica.com, 10 Jun 2010

Sub-Saharan Africa: development aid and access to water and sanitation in

A study by the African Development Bank (AfDB) concludes that improved sector coordination and capacity building at the local level are some of the key elements to increase efficiency in the water and sanitation sector.

The AfDB study [1] examines the trends in access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa using secondary data, desk research and field research conducted December 2008 and March 2009 in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Madagascar and Uganda. The case studies are based on primary data collected from Water and Finance Ministries, as well as from meetings and interviews with beneficiaries of AfDB-funded water and sanitation projects.

At the current pace, the study calculated that access-to-water target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will only be met in 2040, and the access-to sanitation target in 2076.

Between 2002 and 2007, aid allocation to water and sanitation projects increased from 0.9 percent of overall Official Development Assistance (USD 218 million) to 1.5 percent (USD 472 million). The AfDB loan and grant approvals in the water and sanitation sectors increased from UA 67 million (3.3 percent of total) in 2002 to UA 211 million (6.8 percent of total) in 2007. Over the same period, disbursements grew from UA 52 million to UA 109 million per year.

Country experiences indicate that the following elements are key to increasing efficiency in the water and sanitation sector:

• Improved sector coordination, with assignment of clear responsibility to one ministry accountable for progress in the achievement of water and sanitation targets;
• Increased integration between policy making, planning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation;
• Increased focus on capacity building, especially at the local level, and for all stages of water and sanitation projects – from planning to procurement, to execution, monitoring and maintenance;
• Promotion of linkages among stakeholders, including government bodies and donors, and civil society organisations.

Experience further shows that countries that adopt well-designed water utility reforms are substantially improving access to services and making progress in financial capacity to sustain and expand the services.

Successful types of reforms include:

• The introduction of improved institutional frameworks, including the establishment of laws, rights, and licenses,
  and the definition of clear responsibilities of different actors
• The introduction of mechanisms for effective participation of stakeholders, and knowledge and information systems;
• The development and management of an infrastructure for annual and multi-year flow regulation – for floods and droughts, for multi-purpose storage, and for water quality and source protection;
• The use of operating contracts between the utility and the public agency responsible for supervising water companies;
• The establishment of clear accountability systems and the introduction of performance incentives for employees;
• The introduction of improved commercial systems, including metering and metered billing;
• The introduction of explicit models for delivering services to poor consumers, accounting for service sustainability and integrating the specificities of the local context.

[1] Stampini, M., Salami, A. and Sullivan, C. (2009). Development aid and access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa. (Development research brief ; no. 9). Tunis, Tunisia, Development Research Department, African Development Bank. 4 p. Download full text [PDF file]

Ghana: World Bank, AfDB initiative supports water sector

The World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) has initiated discussions with the managements of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) on how to find a comprehensive and sustainable solution to problem facing urban water supply in Ghana.

Mr. Ishac Diwan, World Bank Country Director said that the World Bank has moved from the stage of exploring the possibility of supporting the sector to actually starting the process towards finding a lasting solution to the problems facing the sector.

“We began a brainstorming session today, during which we identified specific areas where support will be needed to bring a more comprehensive solution to bear on the urban water sector,” he said.

Mr. Diwan, however, pointed out that the AfDB’s involvement is only at the exploratory stage.

He said at the brainstorming session, it emerged that the main challenges facing the sector are those of inadequate water production, obsolete transmission and distribution systems and huge losses being made due to leakages and piracy.

The World Bank in 2006 provided a grant of $150 million to the Government of Ghana under which AVRL was competitively awarded a five-year management contract to help reduce loses in potable water and water revenue by 25 per cent.

The AVRL contract will end in 2011, but the World Bank, by this new development, has indicated its continuous interest in supporting the sector in a more comprehensive manner.

Mr. Diwan proposed that in order to deal effectively with the challenges, there is the need to map out a plan that will address them in parallel by working on the expansion of the production capacity, rehabilitation of the distribution networks and collecting of the revenue at the same time.

He said the expansion of the water supply system have not been able to catch up with the fast moving residential and industrial development in the country.

Mr. Diwan said part of the problem is because the water production and supply plan of the country was last updated in 1990 and has outlived its usefulness.

After the brainstorming session, the management of GWCL and AVRL took the officials of the WB and AfDB on a familiarisation and fact finding tour of the Kpong Water Works.

Mr. Charles Brobbey, the Production Manager at the Kpong Station, told the delegation that even though the plant takes 53 million gallons of raw water a day, it produces 36 million gallons for both urban and rural Accra.

Meanwhile the Chinese Exim Bank has expressed readiness to invest over $200 million into the expansion of Kpong headwork’s and raise its production capacity by at least 40 million gallons over the next five years.

Source: GNA / Ghana Government. 18 Dec 2009

Mozambique, Niassa: loan agreement for signed with ADB for provincial towns water project

The Mozambican government and the African Development Bank signed a loan agreement in Maputo on 23 October 2009 to finance three projects, one of which is the Niassa Provincial Towns Water and Sanitation project.

The ADB is providing credit of 27 million dollars to improve water supply and sanitation in Lichinga and Cuamba, the two major cities in the northern province of Niassa. This will rehabilitate and expand the entire water extraction, treatment, storage and distribution system, with the result that a further 160,000 households will benefit from supplies of clean water.

This will raise the clean water coverage rate for Lichinga and Cuamba from nine per cent of the population to 70 per cent by 2015.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique / allAfrica.com, 23 Oct 2009

Rwanda: country to achieve MDG water & sanitation goals by 2012

Kigali — Rwanda will by the year 2012 have reduced by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation, State Minister Dr. Albert Butare said.

The target which is under the UN Millennium Development Goal 7 of ensuring environmental sustainability, is meant to be achieved by 2015.

The target under MDG 7 is to halve the percentage of people without access to safe water.

Currently, the country’s population with access to safe drinking water is estimated to be at 73 percent and government expects to increase the percentage figure by more than 80 percent by 2012. Only about 45 percent Rwandans have access to hygienic sanitation facilities.

Butare said that the MDG, water and sanitation is in the priorities in the five year plan of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy to be attained by 2012.

In water supply and sanitation, EDPRS plans to raise rural water supply coverage to 85 percent by 2012, while in sanitation coverage for rural household shall increase from 38 percent to 65 percent by 2012.

It’s said that, the proportion of schools with latrines complying with health norms shall rise from 10 to 80 percent.

Butare said this during the signing of a grant agreement worth $25m, a second phase of the National Program of Water Supply and Sanitation in Rural (PNEAR).

The grant provided by African Development Bank (ADB) and will be spent in rural communities providing water and sanitation services was signed last Friday at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) premises.

The grant will ensure the sustainable access to safe drinking water, basic sanitation which is in line with the MDGs and Vision 2020 through the EDPRS.

“As you know (PNEAR), has been identified in order to contribute to the achievement of MDGs and to the achievement of the vision 2020 objectives,” Finance Minister James Musoni said.

Butare noted that big achievements that have been registered in different districts across the country.

He cited Rwamagana district as an example which has already registered 85 percent.

Butare hailed different development partners like Japanese, Belgium cooperation and ADB who have contributed to the county’s efforts to achieve of 100 percent coverage by 2020.

Source: Gertrude Majyambere, New Times / allAfrica.com, 14 Sep 2009

Liberia, Monrovia: Liberia: ADB commits US$ 29 million for water and sanitation – but sets condition

Liberia is poised to receive a US$ 19.9 million from the African Development Bank to address the poor sanitary conditions of Monrovia, but certain “simple conditions” need to be met. The Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) N. Hun-Bu Tulay said the ADB has agreed to provide the amount as a “soft loan” to the Liberian government for use by the LWSC.

The “conditions” he said are: that government must be willingness to accept the fund as a grant; that government establishes a “single institution” to spearhead water and sanitation projects; and that government gives “strong support” to findings and recommendation of an ongoing study on water and sanitation integration.

The Bank will provide the money “for the restoration of the White Plain Hydro and the LWSC facilities in Voinjama, Lofa County,” Mr. Tulay told President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf last Wednesday [30 September 2009] in Gardnersville at the commissioning of a community water supply system, built by the Japanese government.

The White Plain Hydro was the power source of pipe borne water supply to Monrovia and its environs before the back-to-back 14 year (1989-2003) destructive civil war. Since then, full restoration of water supply to Monrovia and its environs has not succeeded, as a result of the huge overhead cost associated, and coupled with the lace of electricity.

Around 63% of dwellers in the Greater Monrovia rely on unsafe water source daily a survey by the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) reveals.

JICA last Tuesday [29 september 2009] officially unveiled the Draft Final Report of the Master Plan Study on Urban Facilities Restoration and Improvement in Monrovia. In the Master Plan Study, JICA focused on the recovery and reconstruction of urban facilities, which are road, public water supply, sewerage and drainage.

“When we look at the present situation, we face a lot of difficulties, which include: (1) deterioration of main and distribution pipeline; (2) around 63% of dwellers in the Greater Monrovia have to rely on unsafe water source; (3) lack of stable water supply, (4) lack of proper water quality monitoring on water supply system and boreholes” JICA’s Chief Representative Mr. Kunihiro Yamauchi reemphasized at the Gardnersville water supply commissioning ceremony on Wednesday.

Mr. Tulay told the Liberian Leader that the ADB is willing sign the agreement with the Liberian for the funds to be used directly by the LWSC; that is, the agreement will not be directly between the LWSC and ADB.

The LWSC wants to implement “short term water supply program” to the public, and there is and need to take advantage of the opportunity because “water is very important to life,” said Tulay.

Since it would require legislation to establish to national water and sanitation institution, which would of course be time-consuming, Mr. Tulay suggested that the President exercises her power-Executive Order-to set up a water and sanitation commission.

All international partners coming into the country to undertake water and sanitation programs would operate through this commission, and this would be a unique way of integrating the sector to foster development, Mr. Tulay agreed with the ADP.

The President did not make a definite comment on the issue, but nodded somewhat in affirmation.

JICA in its survey developed groundwater development plan and water supply development plan for target years of 2014 and 2019. Mr. Yamauchi said according to the plan, future water demand in Greater Monrovia was estimated to be 19 Million Gallon/day in 2014 and 30 Million Gallon/day in 2019, adding that “The estimation shows that the gap between demand and water production is widening.”

President Sirleaf lauded the Japanese government through JICA for the construction of the satellite water system that would provide safe drinking water for at least 1,000 residents in the MTA community.

Source: D.K. Sengbeh, The Informer / allAfrica.com, 05 Oct 2009

Uganda, Kampala: goverment to borrow US$ 52 million for sanitation

Parliamwent has allowed the Government to borrow sh100b [US$ 52 million] for the Kampala Sanitation Program. The funds from the African Development Bank (AfDB) will be used to extend the sewerage network to serve at least 15% [the AfDB project description mentions 30%] of the city population from the current 7.5%, according to the committee on national economy.

The committee explained that funds will be used to rehabilitate and extend the existing 135km of sewerage pipelines in Kampala. Robert Sebunya, who presented the committee report, said: “A total of 30km of new sewer pipes will be laid, 10km unblocked, while 6.7km will be realigned.” He also added that some of the funds will be used to construct and operate the Nakivubo sewerage treatment works and construct a new plant.

The loan, to be managed by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation and KCC, will see the formation of water management units in each division of Kampala.

The committee noted that the improvements would curtail water and sanitation related diseases and contribute to environmental protection of Lake Victoria. MPs, however, expressed concern that due to the poor planning of the city, the sewer line was a waste of resources as it could not be accessed by many citizens.

Opposition leader Ogenga Latigo (FDC) [...] advised that more funds be allocated to emptying septic tanks to reduce the spillage into under- ground water. Okello Okello (UPC) demanded that the Ministry of Water and Environment provides a detailed plan of how the money would be spent otherwise, the funds risked being spent in feasibility studies like the rest of the money borrowed by the Government.

Water and environment minister Maria Mutagamba assured the MPs that the money would be put to good use.

Source: Catherine Bekunda and Mary Karugaba, New Vision / allAfrica.com, 04 Oct 2009